When Oscar nominations were announced last week, many conservatives were left feeling Mel Gibson's The Passion of The Christ had been all but snubbed in Oscar nominations. While The Passion garnered three nominations in the categories of Best Makeup, Best Original Score (John Debney) and Best Cinematography, film advocates were surprised the more than $370 million blockbuster was not nominated for Best Picture, among other high-profile categories.

Several film critics are attributing The Passion's low number of nominations to the fact that Gibson did not solicit ads to promote the movie to the Academy of Motion Picture Art and Sciences for consideration, a practice widely undertaken by hopeful directors.

Christianity Today film critic and writer Jeffrey Overstreet compared Gibson's three Passion nods to Martin Scorcese's 11 for The Aviator, noting "Many Passion fans are furious, and the media is rife with accusations of religious prejudice."

Conservative film critic and syndicated radio-show host Michael Medved addressed the Passion snub in his USA Today column. "The Oscar nominations announced Tuesday illustrate Hollywood's profound, almost pathological, discomfort with the traditional religiosity embraced by most of its mass audience. ... By excluding Mel Gibson's The Passion of The Christ from all high-profile nominations, the Academy Awards voters shut out one of the year's biggest box-office hits that also won its share of enthusiastic critical praise."

Medved notes that The Passion won the People's Choice Award for Favorite Drama in a sweep and that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has honored Christian-themed, controversial movies such as Scorcese's The Last Temptation of Christ in the past.

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